During the 2015-16 school year, nearly 60 percent of Detroit kids — 50,000 students — were enrolled in two or more schools, with some possibly changing schools, then changing back, only to see test scores fall. It’s a situation compounded by a plethora of charter schools and competition from suburbs, but also family instability, poverty and frustration with the city’s traditional schools.

Asked about solutions, both Schuette, a Republican, and Whitmer, a Democrat, pointed to more money for busing.

Transportation is viewed by educators as essential to addressing student mobility, since Wayne State University research has found that just 40 percent of students who switched schools in Detroit moved to a different ZIP code.

Better busing would mean that, if their parents moved, students wouldn’t have to switch schools.

Two years ago, school advocates proposed a unified transportation system in Detroit to serve charter and public schools but it was shot down. Earlier this year, a pilot program backed by Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan began offering bus service to 10 traditional and charter schools in northwest Detroit.

It failed but Whitmer said she’d use her clout if elected governor to push for assistance.

“As governor, I’ll work to make sure every student can get to school safely, no matter where they are. This will help drive up test scores and help our kids get ahead,” Whitmer wrote in an email to Bridge and Chalkbeat.

Long-term, Whitmer also proposed reforms to the state’s formula for funding schools.

Now, schools get state funding based on a 1994 law called Proposal A that is based how much districts spent on students when the law was created.

Schools in different areas get different amounts of per-pupil funding, with schools in more affluent areas receiving more state funding than some schools in poor areas.

Whitmer said schools should get more money if they educate children with more needs.

“Providing adequate funding for schools — finally — will mean both kids and teachers have the resources required to improve academic outcomes in every school, but especially those with high percentages of at-risk and other factors that require more intensive educational services,” Whitmer said.

Any changes in that funding formula likely would require a statewide referendum. Proposals over the years to change Proposal A have been dead on arrival in Lansing.

This story is part of a series, Moving Costs: How students changing schools hurt Detroit classrooms, a joint project from Bridge Magazine and Chalkbeat. Chastity Pratt Dawsey is a Bridge reporter. Koby Levin is a reporter for Chalkbeat.